


Love Will Keep Us Together

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, Humor, Romance, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-05-27
Updated: 2006-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-30 12:47:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15097031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: My wacky response to the November Challenge to use the song "I Will Survive" in a fic.





	Love Will Keep Us Together

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

TITLE: Love Will Keep Us Together  
AUTHOR: Laurel A.  
FEEDBACK: Please, oh please, oh please?  
  
SPOILERS: Hmmm, I am not sure there really are any,  
maybe small ones for In The Shadow of Two Gunmen I &  
II.  
RATING: PG  
DISCLAIMER: Aaron Sorkin rules them and their world.  
The songs belong to other people. Apologies to all  
for abusing them this way.  
ARCHIVE: Sure what the heck, just let me know where.  
SUMMARY: My wacky response to the November Challenge  
to use I Will Survive in a fic � hmmm, no smut in this  
one, but you can just imagine what will happen at the  
end. To find this, and other groovy fics, check out  
http://home.att.net/~worstwing/ Also on the site is  
the Josh/Donna post-ep series Our Two Consciences  
series by Michelle H. and myself.

Donna gives a little giggle as she gets up, just a bit  
wobbly, makes her way to over to Sam and whispers  
something in his ear.

"Let's do it, Sam."

"Now? Tonight? Now?! In front of all these people?"  
Sam asks incredulously.

"Yes, now. It's perfect. You, me, our song," Donna  
says a little louder while she steadies herself on the  
arm of Sam's chair.

"Okay, if you really think we should," Sam is  
beginning to get his nerve up; helped along by the  
beers and shots he's been throwing back all night.

"I'll go tell the guy to put on our song," Donna  
assures him as she weaves her way to Tim the Karaoke  
Guy.

"Tim, put on the song," Donna tells Tim the regular  
Tuesday night Karaoke guy.

"You mean THE song?"

Donna gives the emphatic nod of a girl who's almost  
had one too many whiskey sours.

"Okay kiddo, do me proud."

Donna and Sam step up onto the small stage, each  
holding a wireless microphone in one hand, their  
drinks in the other.

"Woo hoo!!" CJ yells and sticks her fingers between  
her teeth to give a loud and appreciative whistle.

"Why, why, WHY are you encouraging them?" grumbles  
Toby into his scotch.

"Well, Oscar the Grouch, it's the international song  
of empowerment, and I am in favor of universal  
empowerment."

Donna steps ungracefully onto the stage, blows loudly  
into the microphone and yells, "Ahem, testing,  
testing. One, two, three."

"Ouch!" Josh says to no one in particular as he lifts  
his head from the table. "What's the hell's going  
on?"

CJ and Toby look over at Josh, who has clearly been  
drooling, and has peanut shells stuck to the side of  
his face.

"Donna and Sam are doing their song, you'd be better  
off passing out again," Toby distractedly says to Josh  
while ironically, he turnings his full attention to  
the stage where Donna is continuing her introduction.

"Um, Sam and I want to present you with this song  
because we love you all so much. So much. So very  
very much."

Donna pauses to take another sip of her drink and  
continues, "Anyway, we really really love you guys and  
we really really hate Dr. Freeride and Lisa. Even  
though it's been like, years, we're still bitter. So  
here it is."

"Hit it Tim," she adds as she turns her back to the  
bar crowd, which is comprised mostly of Bartlet  
staffers and mercifully few reporters.

The first strains of the song begin and Donna twirls  
around dramatically, if unsteadily, to face the  
audience, delivering the first lines.

~At first I was afraid~  
~I was petrified~

Sam spins around, in much the same manner, sloshing  
his beer onto the stage and all over his shirt in the  
process.

~Kept thinkin' I could never live without you by my  
side~

Donna steps up to his side:

~But then we spent so many nights~  
~Thinkin' how you did us wrong~  
~And we grew strong~  
~And we learned how to get along~

"You go girl!" CJ bellows.

"And guy!" Toby adds.

At this, CJ turns in her chair, raises her eyebrows  
just about into her hairline, and gives Toby a  
questioning look.

"I'm going with the flow," Toby replies with a shrug,  
takes a drag from his cigar, and passes it to CJ to  
take a pull.

~And so you're back from outer space~  
~I just walked in to find you here with that sad look  
upon your face~  
~I should have changed that stupid lock~  
~I should have made you leave your key~  
~If I'd've known for just one second you'd be back to  
bother me~

"Come on everybody! Join in!" Donna yells at the  
audience.

~Go on now, go~  
~Walk out the door~  
~Just turn around now~  
~'Cause you're not welcome anymore~

"Hey," Josh says coming out of his beer-haze, "are  
they much better than they used to be or am I really  
drunk?"

"Both," Toby says.

"They've been practicing," Ginger informs the group as  
she returns from the bar with a Grasshopper for CJ, a  
Manhattan for Margaret, a Bloody Mary for herself, and  
another Whiskey Sour for Donna.

~Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with  
goodbye~  
~Did you think I'd crumble?~  
~Did you think I'd lay down and die?~

"Really?" says Josh with a blank an uncomprehending  
look on his face, "Donna can't possibly have time to  
practice girl-power Karaoke with Sam. I give her way  
too much work to have any kind of a social life, much  
less a Karaoke singing career."

"Oh, that's nice Josh," CJ says, standing up for the  
sisterhood. "Way to be a nice guy. A nice,  
controlling, passive aggressive bastard-guy."

"Huh?" Josh and Toby say at the same time.

"Sorry, just getting into the mood of the song, but  
you get my point," CJ states defensively.

~Oh no, not I, I will survive~  
~Oh as long as I know how to love I know I'll stay  
alive~

"All I know is that Donna and Sam must be spending an  
awful lot of after-hours time 'rehearsing' if that's  
what people are calling it these days," Josh insists.

"Um, Josh, are you starting to think what I think you  
are thinking?" Toby cautiously inquires.

~I've got all my life to live~  
~I've got all my love to give and I'll survive~  
~I will survive, hey hey~

During the musical bridge, Donna and Sam put down  
their drinks, pop their mics back onto the stands, and  
begin to do quite the disco dance.

"Look at them!" Josh exclaims, his voice about an  
octave higher than normal, "They are practically doing  
the Lambada. Someone get me another drink."

Sam and Donna finish up their dance and spin back into  
their places, right in front of the mics.

~It took all the strength I had not to fall apart~  
~Kept trying' hard to mend the pieces of my broken  
heart~  
~And I spent oh so many nights~  
~Just feeling sorry for myself. I used to cry~  
~But now I hold my head up high~

"More beer," Carol announces as she re-joins the  
group.

"Thank God," Josh says, reaching for another pint  
glass of beer, which he proceeds to drain within  
moments.

"This is not going to be pretty," Toby comments,  
taking his eyes off of the performance for the  
briefest moment.

~And you see me, somebody new~  
~I'm not that chained up little person still in love  
with you~  
~And so you felt like droppin' in~  
~And just expect me to be free~  
~Now I'm savin' all my lovin' for someone who's lovin'  
me~

"God Josh, you are the most repressed,  
so-in-love-with-your-assistant-you-have-no-idea-but-we-all-know-it  
person I know."

"Uhu?" is all Josh can manage through a belch.

"Oh, this is gonna be good," Carol whispers to Ginger.

Josh begins to get up to object, but promptly sits  
back down, unable to hold up his own weight under the  
influence of his second beer of the night. No sooner  
has his butt hit the wood of the chair, than his head  
hits the table, and he is passing out again in the  
pile of peanut shells.

~Go on now, go~  
~Walk out the door~  
~Just turn around now~  
~'Cause you're not welcome anymore~  
~Weren't you the one who tried to break me with  
goodbye~  
~Did you think I crumble~  
~Did you think I'd lay down and die?~

"Bummer. I thought we were going to get to see a good  
fight," Ginger remarks.

"I'd have put my money on CJ. Always put your money  
on CJ" Carol confidently states, as if she has won  
lots of money by betting on CJ in fistfights.

~Oh no, not I, I will survive~  
~Oh as long as I know how to love I know I'll stay  
alive~  
~I've got all my life to live~  
~I've got all my love to give and I'll survive~  
~I will survive, I will survive~

Sam and Donna finish off their song to the wild cheers  
of all in hearing distance.

"Wow, you guys sounded great!" CJ says as she  
high-fives them both on their way back to the table.

"See Sam, I told you all those hours watching John  
Travolta's 'You Too Can Disco Dance' videos paid off!"  
Donna says, as she plops down in her seat, taking up  
her fresh Whiskey Sour.

Sam gives her a big, self-satisfied grin, raises his  
glass at her and takes a sip.

***About an hour later***

Donna has entered the "happy stage" of drunk.

Sam is alternating between giggling like a teenage  
girl, and getting into very serious arguments about  
the merits of Captain and Tennille with no one in  
particular.

Toby and CJ are practically sitting on each other's  
laps as they talk quietly and intensely.

Carol, Ginger, Margaret, and Donna are laughing and  
generally having a grand old time.

Josh has once again woken up from the relative bliss  
of a drunken slumber.

"Okay, it's time," he slurs as he sits up and brushes  
the peanut shells off of his face for the second time  
in as many hours.

"Time for what?" Ginger asks in a manner that might be  
described as, well, gingerly.

"Time to get it all out in the open," Josh says,  
gesturing a bit too wildly with his arms.

At this statement, CJ and Toby turn in their chairs to  
see what the commotion is all about.

"Josh? Are you okay? Do I need to call you a cab  
now?" Donna asks, suspecting this might be the time of  
the evening when it is really best for all present,  
not to mention the Democratic Party, if she gets Josh  
into a cab and sends him home.

"Donna," he begins to whine, as he starts to stand up,  
looking remarkably steady on his feet, "I am fine. In  
fact, I am more finer than I have ever been."

"Okay..." Donna says suspiciously.

The whole West Wing gang watches Josh purposefully  
make his way to the stage, give Tim the Karaoke Guy a  
shove in the shoulder and say, "Hey, you got any  
Survivor?"

"Oh. My. God." Toby and CJ say simultaneously.

"Oooh, I love Survivor," Sam chimes in.

"Shut up Sam," everyone says.

[I THINK I WILL MAKE THIS THE END OF PART ONE]

Carol, Margaret, Ginger, CJ, Sam, Toby, and Donna all  
watch as Josh steps up onto the stage, microphone in  
hand.

"I want to dedicate this to someone who really has  
been right before my eyes."

"Oh. My. God." CJ and Toby repeat to themselves.

Carol leans over to Donna and says, "What's he talking  
about?"

"I have no idea, but all of a sudden I don't feel so  
well."

"Donna, until tonight, seeing you up here with Sam,  
dancing with him, touching him, singing with him, I  
didn't realize what you mean to me. So, I want to  
express it now, in this song, by the brilliant and  
legendary band, Survivor."

"That is so sweet, I think he's almost crying. Who  
knew he liked Survivor so much?" Sam remarks,  
following it up with a loud, "Go Josh!"

~How can I convince you what you see is real~  
~Who am I to blame you for doubting what you feel~  
~I was always reachin', you were just a girl I knew~  
~I took for granted the friend I have in you~

"I think he must be in some kind of altered mental  
state." Toby says.

"This can't be good. Maybe he has alcohol poisoning,  
where's Dr. Bartlet?" CJ concurs.

"Jesus, Donna what is going on here?" Carol asks  
again.

"I don't know. I feel like I am in the Twilight Zone,  
in some alternate universe. Like some higher power is  
messing with Josh, making him do things that he'd  
never normally do."

~I was living for a dream~  
~Loving for a moment~  
~Taking on the world~  
~That was just my style~  
~Now I look into your eyes~  
~I can see forever~  
~The search is over~  
~You were with me all the while~

"Well, I think it's great," a commanding voice  
declares.

"Mr. President..." Donna begins, as the whole group  
begins to stand up.

"Sit, sit. Sit down everybody. No need to prove to  
me that you all still CAN stand at this hour,"  
President Bartlet says as he waves them back into  
their chairs.

"Donna, I think it's about time you and Josh finally  
got it on."

"Excuse me, Mr. President? I am not sure I heard you  
correctly," Donna says incredulously as the others  
stifle giggles into their hands.

"Um, Sir...have you been taking your back medication  
again?" Toby ventures.

"Percocet, percodan, percolate....it's all the same,  
isn't it?"

~Can we last forever, will we fall apart~  
~At times it's so confusing, these questions of the  
heart~  
~You followed me through changes, and patiently you'd  
wait~  
~Till I came to my senses, through some miracle of  
fate~

"But really, enough about me. I think we should all  
pay some attention to Josh here. He is doing a great  
job don't you all think?" President Bartlet queries  
the group in that presidential way that lets you know  
it isn't really a question.

So, they all sit back and listen to Josh.

~I was living for a dream~  
~Loving for a moment~  
~Taking on the world~  
~That was just my style~  
~Now I look into your eyes~  
~I can see forever~  
~The search is over~  
~You were with me all the while~

"Okay, someone has got to put this to a stop," Donna  
declares, getting up from her seat.

"All due respect Mr. President," she continues, "but  
this is really embarrassing. I know Josh has been  
pining away for me. But I just don't feel the same  
about him."

"I feel bad about it, really. I have tried to think  
of him in THAT way, but it's no use, it just grosses  
me out," Donna tells the group, looking genuinely  
sorry.

"But, I really don't want to hurt his feelings. So, I  
think it would be best if you all left so that Josh  
and I can deal with this privately. That way, I can  
call him a cab, and maybe convince him that this was  
all a drunken dream."

~Now the miles stretch out behind me loves that I have  
lost~  
~Broken hearts lie victims of the game~  
~Then good luck it finally stuck like lightning from  
the blue~  
~Every highway leading me back to you~  
~Now at last I hold you, now all is said and done~  
~The search has come full circle, our destinies are  
one~  
~So if you ever loved me show me that you give a damn~  
~You'll know for certain the man I really am~

"Okay Donna, if that's the way you really feel about  
it," the President surrenders as he stands and starts  
to walk away while mumbling something about an office  
pool.

~I was living for a dream~  
~Loving for a moment~  
~Taking on the world~  
~That was just my style~  
~Then I touched your heart~  
~I can hear you whisper~  
~The search is over~  
~Love was right before my eyes~

"Oh man, you are no fun at all!" Ginger declares,  
"Come on Carol, Margaret, let's go."

"You sure know how to ruin a good Survivor song," Sam  
says bitterly, taking a final sip of his drink,  
grabbing his sweater and heading off.

"Let's call a cab and go back to my place," CJ says to  
Toby between gropes and kisses.

"Great idea," he replies as they practically run to  
the door, knocking down only a couple of other bar  
patrons in their rush.

With everyone gone, Donna is left alone to face Josh  
as he returns from the stage.

"Well, what do you say Donna?"

"Great job Josh, I think you really nailed the chorus  
that time," she says grinning.

"And I have to say, your performance tonight was  
stellar as well," Josh says as he wraps his arms  
around Donna's waist.

"Well, it wasn't half bad if I do say so myself. I  
think we've thrown them off the scent once and for  
all," Donna brags as she returns his embrace.

They stand in the bar kissing for several minutes.

"Come on, let's go back to my place," Donna finally  
says, "I'll tell them that you insisted on coming over  
to tell the cats about how I rejected your offers of  
undying love."

END

  


End file.
